Burger or bust: tasty beef patties abound in PB

May is National Burger Month, which is as good an excuse as any to consider burgers offered at some of the island’s restaurants.

First, let’s define burger because a lot of menu items these days are called “burgers,” whether they’re patties made from ground turkey or a black bean-and-vegetable blend.

To my reckoning, a burger is a patty of ground beef—beef—usually served between a split round bun; hence, the hamburger.

Nick & Johnnie’s uses a proprietary beef blend created for the restaurant by Bush Brothers, a longtime West Palm Beach-based meat company—one of the last of the independents of its kind. Nick & Johnnie’s simply seasons its burgers with salt and pepper, then grills and serves them with lettuce, tomato and onion, otherwise referred to as LTO.

At Café Boulud, Chef Jim Leiken creates his own custom beef blend—the same blend used at Daniel Boulud’s DBGB Kitchen and Bar in New York, where Leiken formerly was executive chef. The 10-ounce burger is grilled, served on brioche and typically topped with aged white cheddar, housemade burger sauce and LTO.

A burger at Hamburger Heaven.

There are a variety of beef burgers at 264 The Grill—from straight-up beef patties to the “Killer” burger, a 10-ounce two-fister topped with sauteed mushrooms and onions, bacon and cheddar.

At Buccan, two-time James Beard Award-nominee Clay Conley wood-fires his Prime beef burgers served on brioche with aged cheddar and cornichons.

Both The Breakers’ Flagler Steakhouse and The Colony’s Polo Steaks & Seafood use aged, Prime beef for their burgers. Flagler Steakhouse, for one, typcally serves theirs on a poppy-and-sesame-seed brioche bun with a choice of cheese and lettuce, ketchup, pickle and mayo.

Amici Market isn’t a restaurant, but its burgers, top-selling takeout lunch items, are noteworthy. Managing partner Maurzio Ciminella uses the same beef blend as the former Herbert’s Lafayette Market did—to much local acclaim—when it was
located in the same North County Road building. The blend includes chuck, short rib and brisket. Amici’s burger—half-pounders for $8.50, which includes fries—is among the best deals in town.

And don’t forget Hamburger Heaven. It’s not on the island anymore after a decades-long presence on South County Road, but nostalgic Palm Beach burger-lovers flock to its new location along downtown West Palm Beach’s Clematis Street.

About the Author

M.M. Cloutier is a longtime freelance journalist who has written and reported about dining and food, business, history, travel, people and more for numerous local, regional and national publications, such as Palm Beach-area newspapers and magazines, as well as The New York Times, Time magazine and others.